Warriors clinch WAC
Warriors’ win will send out big ripples
Now if the University of Hawaii athletic director had done his job better and booked a decent team to start the season, it would not have taken a whole season to get the attention and respect of mainland press and coaches. But Friday's win against Boise State changes everything. Even Herman Frazier should be able now to beef up next year's schedule and make an invitation mean something other than a free trip to Hawaii.
Colt Brennan should win the Heisman and just his record-breaking run this year will make recruiting mainland prospects easier, but equally important is that our best homegrown talent will think twice about leaving when they can stay home and eat laulau and be close to ohana and the waves.
Fans who have long supported Coach June Jones and his vision for UH football were well rewarded Friday as the warriors represented all Hawaii residents. Bowl Championship Series and Heisman for real, brah. It is great when all in Hawaii can for one day at least be one ohana, putting aside all differences and sharing the power of aloha. This is the time of the akua Lono, god of sport and a time of peace, when traditionally there was no war and instead there was sport.
What a great day to be a Warrior.
Kimo Kekahuna
Hana, Maui
Congratulations to fans of the better team
Just wanted to write and congratulate the people of Hawaii on your Western Athletic Conference championship. You are the better team. Good luck in your bowl game. Make us proud! See you next year in Boise.
Steve Somerville
Meridian, Idaho
Rain was predicted, but Warriors shone
On Thursday evening, all the local TV channels reported that the weather for Friday's football game, and actually all of Friday, would be "perfect" with the exception of mauka showers.
On Friday I braved my luck early morning and headed out to Ala Moana Center and had a perfect morning there and guess what? It was raining all morning, then the sun came out by early afternoon. Friends said, "The rain will hamper the game," and I said "No, it is a blessing, this evening the UH Warriors will win." Hmmm ... how arrogant?
The afternoon was dry and the game was perfect. Yes we won, and the moment we won, well at 7:57 p.m., it started to rain in McCully. Yes, believe.
AnnaMaria Preston
McCully
Hawaii deserves a bowl game
I would simply like to say congratulations to the Warriors for playing such an outstanding game against Boise State on Friday and to wish them the best as the WAC champions. The team performed like the champions they are and, although I am a BSU fan, if another team is to be the WAC champion I can think of no better team than Hawaii. You had better be recognized and sent to a BCS Bowl game. Be sure to know that this Boise fan will be cheering you on.
Again, congratulations and great game!
Kim Mankins
Eagle, Idaho
STAR-BULLETIN
The annual Hilton Hawaiian Village Thanksgiving feast at the Institute for Human Services is for anyone who is hungry. Volunteer Uma Wilding, above, wife of a Hilton employee, rushes through the dining room carrying plates of food.
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A season for gratitude
911 operator, paramedics helped save father-in-law
My father-in-law stopped breathing at the dinner table. He was choking. I immediately applied the Heimlich maneuver after catching his falling body. My wife called 911. This letter is to thank the 911 operator for staying with my wife and me during this stressful time and helping to save my father-in-law with instructions (keep doing CPR, put him on his back, etc.).
The fire department and paramedics came. Thanks to the public employees of Honolulu, my father-in-law from Redding, Calif.., will have another Thanksgiving Day! Mahalo.
Sandy and Jim Delmonte
Honolulu
Special session became one of our holiday blessings
As we enter the festive holiday season and share aloha with our friends and family, we reflect on what we, as an island community, have to be thankful for. As I look back over the past year I realize that we, as a state, have much to be thankful for.
In past years a vocal minority has begun to dictate the direction that our state will take in business and political affairs. That vocal minority dictates by anger, fear and lawsuit. The ability of this vocal minority to be quite loud and condemning of the actions of the business community and political community has been hurtful to the overall health of our island community.
The recent Superferry debacle was but one example of the illness that our island community has had to endure in recent years. It appears that the days of respect and aloha have disappeared to be replaced by anger and lawsuits, an apparent mainland influence.
During the festive holiday season I am thankful that our Legislature and our governor had the courage to stand up to this vocal minority by convening the special session of the Legislature and clearing the path for the Superferry to sail. It is high time that our politicians begin to represent the people who elected them to office and stand up for the rights of the citizens of our island community.
If we are not diligent in responding to this vocal minority and fighting for the rights guaranteed our citizens, we may find ourselves in the same predicament as other communities in the world who have allowed their lives to be dictated by a vocal (or rebel) minority.
Thank you, legislators and governor.
Rick Robinson
Kealakekua, Hawaii
Thanksgiving a common idea among many cultures
So Thanksgiving Day has come and gone for this year. But its spirit should always live throughout each new day.
Thanksgiving! What a simple word it is. Yet what a big meaning it has had for generations. It is also a word, and concept, that transcends many diverse cultures and has been a cornerstone to an even wider audience before its present-day known conception began more than three centuries ago.
Before early European explorers arrived in North America, Indians chanted and were thankful for the wide expanse of natural beauty and bountiful food among them. Hawaiians treasured and chanted to their gods and goddesses in thanks for the wealth of life in the midst of their remote island chains. Eskimos continually passed down values and appreciation of their abundant surroundings to younger eyes with hopes for their future.
And yet the concept of "thanksgiving" has been alive in other lands as well. Everyone around the world finds their own ways to express, throughout the year, similar concepts of "thanksgiving." These other lands also strive to use its meaning in their own languages as a building block to keep alive the promise of a better life for themselves and future generations.
John Burns
Aiea
[ OTHER LETTERS ]
First-time DUI should bring locking device
The members of MADD-Hawaii (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) appreciate your
Nov. 23 lead editorial supporting ignition interlock devices, which keep a vehicle from starting if the driver's breath alcohol exceeds a certain level.
We would like to clarify a key point for your readers, however. MADD and other groups we work with feel that interlock should be mandatory for all DUI offenders. To limit its application to repeat offenders or to make it optional, as the editorial suggests, would render it much less effective or even unworkable in our state.
There are several reasons for this. Here are just four:
» Ignition interlock saves lives. So the more DUI offenders using it, the more lives saved.
» The average first-time DUI arrestee has driven drunk 87 times before getting caught. He is not a first-time drunk driver, he's a first-time arrestee.
» It's a win-win deal. Interlock protects the community from impaired drivers and at the same time gives the offender the ability to drive himself and his family where they need to go.
» Without mandated, first-offense interlock, the companies who make and service the devices would not have a large enough user population to make it financially feasible for them to do business in Hawaii.
Arkie Koehl
Chairman, Public Policy Committee
MADD-Hawaii
Local GOP should reject national platform
As a constituent of Sen. Fred Hemmings, I could not let
his Nov. 22 letter go unanswered. In the past I have suggested that Hawaiian Republicans stand up for what is right and disavow the mainland Republicans. I even joined the Republican Party to support John McCain for president in 2000, as it was obvious that George W. Bush is a complete idiot. But no, Hawaii Republicans voted for Bush and have supported him ever since.
The Democrats might be far from perfect but when one looks at the record of the Republicans on the federal level, one can only hope that Hawaii never becomes Republican. The following are the achievements of the Republican Party:
» Took us from a surplus to a deficit. So much for all that talk against Democrats for unbalanced budgets.
» Republicans should amend their platform to say they believe in states' rights as long as such rights agree with the federal government. Medical marijuana and assisted suicide are two issues the Republicans love to hassle the states over.
» Starting never-ending war. First Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now possibly Iran. I had thought that Bush came out against nation building, but I must have misheard him as it seems that is all he is trying to do.
Since the Republicans have shown that they do the opposite of what they promise on the federal level, why would anyone think they would be any different on the state level?
Peter Ehrhorn
Kailua
Akaka Bill was tabled, not voted down
As two new members of the Hawaii State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (HISAC), we are writing in response to the Nov. 17 article "
Panel tables Akaka Bill debate." Through a quotation of Amy Agbayani, the article gave the impression that the current HISAC elected not to take a position on the Akaka Bill because it believed the 2001 report prepared by the previous HISAC sufficiently covered the issues. In fact, the current HISAC has not taken a position on the 2001 report. Our decision last week was narrow; the HISAC voted to discontinue discussion on the Akaka Bill and not provide any recommendation regarding the Akaka Bill to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The Akaka Bill is obviously an issue of tremendous importance to the people of Hawaii. During the past months the HISAC received testimony from numerous people statewide who gave thoughtful and passionate arguments for and against the Akaka Bill. We are very appreciative of the insights shared by those who testified. The majority who voted to table the Akaka Bill discussion did so for a variety of reasons, including concerns that the new HISAC members had not been thoroughly briefed on this complex issue and that the recent public testimony had not been analyzed.
Last week we voted to address two civil rights issues in Hawaii during our two-year term: first, discrimination in the criminal justice system, and second, if time allows, fair housing. We will strive to provide meaningful information on one or both of these issues to the people of Hawaii and the commission.
Amy Agbayani
Jennifer A. Benck
Members, HISAC
Iolani battles Punahou for scholar honors
So once more Iolani School, with only half as many students as Punahou, produced twice the number of 2008 National Merit Scholar semifinalists, making them effectively four times better.
Punahou may be older, richer and bigger, but there is no finer academic institution in our state than the exemplary Iolani School.
Congratulations to those scholars and the faculty who taught them.
Mark Stitham
Kailua